1.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 6.\" are met: 7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 12.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 13.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 14.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 15.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 17.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 18.\" without specific prior written permission. 19.\" 20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 30.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 31.\" 32.\" @(#)vipw.8 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 33.\" $FreeBSD$ 34.\" 35.Dd June 6, 1993 36.Dt VIPW 8 37.Os BSD 4 38.Sh NAME 39.Nm vipw 40.Nd edit the password file 41.Sh SYNOPSIS 42.Nm vipw 43.Op Fl d Ar directory 44.Sh DESCRIPTION 45.Nm Vipw 46edits the password file after setting the appropriate locks, 47and does any necessary processing after the password file is unlocked. 48If the password file is already locked for editing by another user, 49.Nm 50will ask you 51to try again later. The default editor for 52.Nm 53is 54.Xr vi 1 . 55.Pp 56When run without options, 57.Nm vipw 58will work with the password files in 59.Pa /etc . 60The 61.Fl d 62option may be used to specify an alternative 63.Ar directory 64to work with. 65.Pp 66.Nm Vipw 67performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries, 68and will not allow a password file with a 69.Dq mangled 70entry to be 71installed. 72If 73.Nm 74rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter 75the edit session. 76.Pp 77Once the information has been verified, 78.Nm 79uses 80.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 81to update the user database. This is run in the background, and, 82at very large sites could take several minutes. Until this update 83is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates 84and the new information is not available to programs. 85.Sh ENVIRONMENT 86If the following environment variable exists it will be utilized by 87.Nm Ns : 88.Bl -tag -width PW_SCAN_BIG_IDS 89.It Ev EDITOR 90The editor specified by the string 91.Ev EDITOR 92will be invoked instead of the default editor 93.Xr vi 1 . 94.It Ev PW_SCAN_BIG_IDS 95See 96.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 . 97.El 98.Sh SEE ALSO 99.Xr chpass 1 , 100.Xr passwd 1 , 101.Xr passwd 5 , 102.Xr adduser 8 , 103.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 104.Sh HISTORY 105The 106.Nm 107command appeared in 108.Bx 4.0 . 109